| Murmurs that the Alamo Incorporation Movement has stopped answering Web site inquiries about cityhood were echoing around town - but operators of the site and representatives for the organization say AIM has responded to "every legitimate question."
"It's in our best interest to be as responsive as we can," said Chris Kenber, spokesman for AIM.
Kenber says they have received a handful of questions that are actually more like statements, that some are "faintly incoherent" or "so far out of left field" that they either cannot or will not respond to them.
"You're just going to start a conversation that's not useful," he said about responding to some of the letters that have come in via the Web site. One e-mail he found particularly outrageous - and that didn't garner a response - accused AIM of being rude to an elderly woman in a wheelchair, he said.
Before last week, the Web site had not been updated for about a month, beginning Nov. 22.
The week before the update, discussion on DanvilleWeekly.com's Town Square forum drew attention to what residents considered a neglected AIM Web site. They noted that questions hadn't been answered and that there had been a lack of media coverage about incorporation.
"In 45 days, these proponents went from constant commentary and ubiquitous presence in our community to inaccessible silence," one poster wrote.
An Alamo resident who noted a lack of communication on the part of AIM declined to comment.
The AIM Web site is a place where Alamo residents are able to educate themselves on incorporation. It's not the forum for a pro-and-con debate, Kenber said.
"The time and place for that is during an election campaign," he said.
The AIM Web site was updated Dec. 21, after the firm Winzler & Kelly was selected to conduct the comprehensive fiscal analysis - the study to determine if cityhood is feasible.
Kenber said if there was a dip in communication it had more to do with the person in charge of updates being out of town.
"It's absolutely not a strategy of ours," Kenber said.
On the front page of the AIM Web site there is section that reads, "Comments or questions? Let us hear from you!" Users can click in the section and be linked directly to an AIM e-mail account. People are encouraged to ask questions about becoming a city to help determine whether or not they support incorporation.
Many of the questions sent in are then published in the "frequently asked questions" section of the Web site.
"We answer every question we can. Some are truly unanswerable," Kenber said.
For more information visit www.alamoinc.org. Are you receiving Express, our free daily e-mail edition? See a sample and sign-up for Express.
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